The research that we undertake builds upon the work of pioneers in the field of the learning designer profession and complements the research being currently being conducted by contemporary researchers who are striving to extend our knowledge of the profession. On this page, we share some of the seminal pieces of work that have defined this field of research and some of our favourite articles. We hope that the articles collected might be a launching pad for other researchers wishing to conduct research in this area.
Bird, J. (2004, December). Professional navel gazing: Flexible learning professionals into the future. In Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 123-133). Perth: ASCILITE.
Inglis, A. (1989). Fifteen years of instructional design — a personal perspective, in Development, Design and Distance Education, ed. M. Parer, Gippsland Institute, Churchill, pp. 259-71.
Costello, E., Welsh, S., Girme, P., Concannon, F., Farrelly, T., & Thompson, C. (2022). Who cares about learning design? Near future superheroes and villains of an educational ethics of care. Learning, Media and Technology, 48(3), 460–475. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2074452
Martin, F., Chen, Y., Oyarzun, B., & Lee, M. (2022). Learning and development roles and competency domains in higher education: a content analysis of job announcements. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 34(2), 297-320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-021-09290-2
Mitchell, K., Simpson, C., & Adachi, C. (2017). What’s in a name: The ambiguity and complexity of technology enhanced learning roles. ASCILITE Publications, 147-151. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2017.759
Pingo, Z., Laudari, S., & Sankey, M. (2024). Reframing professional identity: professional development framework for learning/educational designers. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(7), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.53761/0h2y9675
Ritzhaupt, A. D., & Kumar, S. (2015). Knowledge and skills needed by instructional designers in higher education. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 28(3), 51-69. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21196
Wang, X., Chen, Y., Ritzhaupt, A. D., & Martin, F. (2021). Examining competencies for the instructional design professional: An exploratory job announcement analysis. International Journal of Training and Development, 25(2), 95-123. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijtd.12209
Gilmore, D., & Nguyen, C. (2023). Surveying LinkedIn profiles of learning designers: Qualifications, interpersonal skills, and career pathways to inform career development. ASCILITE Publications, 106-116. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2023.523
Sage, J., & Sankey, M. (2021). Managing career transitions into post-secondary learning designer jobs: An Australasian perspective. ASCILITE Publications, 22-31. https://doi.org/10.14742/ascilite2021.0103
Slade, C., McGrath, D., Greenaway, R., & Parker, J. (2019). Challenges in sustaining technology enhanced learning: Recruitment, employment and retention of learning designers in Australian universities. ASCILITE Publications, 272-281. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2019.274
Simpson, C., Frawley, J., Markauskaite, L., & Goodyear, P. (2021). Factors associated with edvisor perceptions of their work being understood and valued are not what they seem. ASCILITE Publications, 11-21. https://doi.org/10.14742/ascilite2021.0102
Abblitt, S., Davis, S., D’Rozario, T., Ho, T., Pariah, Y., & Rasouli, R. (2023). How to build a learning designer: Co-designing a training program for/with/as novice learning designers. ASCILITE Publications, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.14742/apubs.2023.617
Heggart, K., & Dickson-Deane, C. (2022). What should learning designers learn?. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 34(2), 281-296. Chicago. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-021-09286-y
Halupa, C. (2019). Differentiation of roles: Instructional designers and faculty in the creation of online courses. International Journal of Higher Education, 8(1), 55-68. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n1p55
Mueller, C. M., Richardson, J. C., Watson, S. L., & Watson, W. R. (2022). How instructional designers approach conflict with faculty. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 11(1), 25-41. https://doi.org/10.59668/354.5894
Tay, A. Z., Huijser, H., Dart, S., & Cathcart, A. (2023). Learning technology as contested terrain: Insights from teaching academics and learning designers in Australian higher education. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 39(1), 56-70. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.8179
Abramenka-Lachheb, V., Lachheb, A., de Siqueira, A. C., & Huber, L. (2021). Instructional designers as “first responders” helping faculty teach in the coronavirus crisis. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, 10(1), 294-305. https://doi.org/10.14434/jotlt.v10i1.31368
Bellaby, A., Sankey, M., & Albert, L. (2020). Rising to the occasion: Exploring the changing emphasis on educational design during COVID-19. In 37th International Conference of Innovation, Practice andResearch in the Use of Educational Technologies inTertiary Education (pp. 145-155). ASCILITE. https://doi.org/10.14742/ascilite2020.0137
Prusko, P. T., & Kilgore, W. (2023). It took a pandemic to help us contextualise the value of learning designers in higher education. https://doi.org/10.59668/279.12263
Graham, C. (2013). Changing technologies, changing identities: A case study of professional staff and their contributions to learning and teaching. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 17(2), 62-70.
Veles, Natalia. (2022). Optimising the Third Space in Higher Education: Case Studies of Intercultural and Cross-Boundary Collaboration. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003259527
Veles, N. (2024) ‘Critical thirding and third space collaboration: university professional staff and new type of knowledge production’. London Review of Education, 22 (1), 24. https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.22.1.24
Whitchurch, C. (2006). Who do they think they are? The changing identities of professional administrators and managers in UK higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 28(2), 159-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600800600751002
Whitchurch, C. (2008). Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: The emergence of third space professionals in UK higher education. Higher education quarterly, 62(4), 377-396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00387.x
Whitchurch, C. (2012). Reconstructing identities in higher education: The rise of ‘third space’ professionals. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203098301
Whitchurch, C., Locke, W., & Marini, G. (2021). Challenging career models in higher education: The influence of internal career scripts and the rise of the “concertina” career. Higher Education, 82(3), 635-650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00724-5
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